The Work Behind A New Path

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

It begins with a dream and a goal. Since 2004, I’ve been blogging each week in these articles about The Writing Life. It’s grown into a large body of work and I’ve been recognized as one of the top 27 content writers with millions of blogs. About 400 people get these articles on their email and many others read it online. Yet I want to reach more people. How can that happen?

The first step is to create a plan, and then execute your plan, test it and keep telling others. I began to look for new places and ways to tell others about how to subscribe to my blog.

For example, I am active on Facebook and I’ve joined a number of private groups. Overall I do not actively post in any of these groups. I read their posts but do not issue any of my own. Some of these groups are small and others have thousands of members. I crafted some words and worked on refining them off and on for several weeks. Finally I settled on these words:

“Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,700 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA”

Notice my straight-forward explanation and I send the reader to a single place. Also each time I used an image to draw the reader’s attention to my words. 

Some of my posts to these groups posted immediately. Others required an administrator to approve them. For some of these groups with administrators, my post got rejected because they saw it as an ad or spam or overly self-promotional. A couple of administrators rejected my post but pointed out a different place I could post my words. The rules are different for each group but overall my words have gone out to many different writing groups and I will see if my campaign or effort increases my number of blog subscribers (my goal). 

Also my campaign is not limited to this one strategy, I’ve written a short email that I will be sending out to my newsletter list as another tool to use in my campaign. 

Some of these efforts will work and some will fail. From my years in publishing I have learned this simple truth which is pointed out in this quotation from P.T. Barnum: “Without promotion, something terrible happens. Nothing.”

If you don’t try, then it will not fly. What area of your writing do you want to grow? Your newsletter list? Your speaking engagements? Your radio interviews and podcast interviews? Or maybe it writing articles for print magazines or your next book with a publisher? 

The key is to create the goal, then plan how to reach a new audience. I hope the details of how I’m trying to grow my blog subscribers is helpful information to stir your own action and application to your writing life. It’s not easy and takes planning, execution, failure then adjustment. It does not happen without your actions. What area do you need to do this type of work and follow a new path for your own growth? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

How can you reach a new audience and new readers? This prolific author and editor writes about the work behind a new path in this article. Read these details. (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

The Unpredictable Writing Life

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For decades, I’ve been in the world of publishing and working with authors. Repeatedly I’ve seen the unpredictable nature of this work and life. For example, as I meet authors and acquire their books at Morgan James Publishing, I learn about authors who are eager to sell their books and reach their readers. I have one author who writes fiction and published two novels with us. She was actively selling these books at specialized trade shows which tied to her plot and characters. When she pitched her third novel, she told me that she had sold over 300 books during the last year which showed her activity as an author. 

As a part of the acquisitions process, I checked in with a colleague about her bookstore sales for her first two books. This number will give me an indicator of the enthusiasm (or lack of it) from my colleagues about the third novel. I was surprised to learn she had sold about a carton of books inside the bookstores. In general, a carton holds 25-35 books and depends on the size of the book. It was not an impressive sales record and showed me that my colleagues would not be inclined to publish a third novel from this author. I spoke with the author about these details and she decided to self-publish her third novel in this series. If the bookstore numbers improve, then it’s possible she could bring this third novel into her series, but not at the moment.

I could not have predicted these bookstore sales and believed the number would be much higher than a single carton. This example shows again one of the many unpredictable details and how a great deal of those details are outside of anything that I can know about or control.

Here’s another example: I wished a long-time publishing professional a happy birthday. It’s something I do on a regular basis and gives me a touch point with people. In her response, she told me she was no longer working at that publisher. I called this author to hear more detail. I learned the change happened because she didn’t hit the sales number for her authors books. This key number is outside of anything this editor could predict or control. She told me about one of her authors with a large Instagram platform has a daily gathering of thousands of participants. The book this group was using repeatedly wasn’t the author’s book but a book from another author. This simple choice gave huge exposure to a different book than the author’s book and contributed to the editor’s dismal sales numbers. 

These stories about publishing teach me lessons about the details of this business and how it works. Yet repeatedly I’ve discovered there are a myriad of details outside of anything that I can control or do anything about. There is one singular person who I can control: me. 

I’d love to have some predictions but the only prediction I can control is myself. I keep promoting my own work. I continue to pitch authors to my colleagues and writing different material. I work with various authors and various types of books. In addition, I listen to my colleagues, answering their questions and helping as many authors as I can. I can’t control others or much of anything--but I can control my own activities.

What about in your writing life? Is it predictable or what steps are you taking for your books and your writing? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

The life of a writer is unpredictable and often outside of anything that can be controlled. This prolific author and editor gives some examples then his encouragement. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.